Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sterilization method and sterilization processing apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are apparatuses which retain water with hydrochloric acid and salt in a cathode chamber and an anode chamber of an electrolyte cell and generate sterilizing water containing hypochlorous acid of less than pH 3 through electrolysis (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-137762, for example).
However, the conventional sterilizing water obtained through electrolysis from water with hydrochloric acid and salt has no difference from an aqueous solution of hypochlorous acid which can be manufactured by mixing hypochlorous acid and diluted hydrochloric acid and has no difference in sterilizing power either. Moreover, even when compared with an aqueous solution of sodium hypochlorite which is normally used, no advantages of using electrolytic water are found except in that the amount of chlorine gas exhausted is small.
The present invention has been implemented by focusing attention on the above described conventional problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide a sterilization method and sterilization processing apparatus having a high sterilization effect and capable of shortening a sterilization time.